This morning we awake to the beginning of a beautiful desert sunrise. We could see the magnificent colors in the sky as well as the stars. Once up we quickly got ready to drive to Arches National Park to see the sunrise and to hike out to the “Delicate Arch”. We got to the trail at 6:30 am the hike to the Delicate Arch was not just for anyone. It was a bit physical and the trail kind of disappeared at times. We finally reached the Arch after about an hour of hiking and a few bottles of water.
Once we got there is was a magnificent site. After taking some pictures and snacking on some beef jerky we hiked back out. As we hiked back out we commented to each other how we were glad that we began our hike early before the sun got really hot. We passed several people on our way out that we knew would not be able to complete the hike. A tour bus full of older oriental people for one, not only were they hiking back in but they had no water at all. Not really a smart thing to do in a desert. After the hike we got on the motorcycle and headed to an area called Park Avenue. It was magnificent. We took some more pictures here before heading to the town of Moab to get some breakfast. After our breakfast we headed back to our campsite so that we could get ready to go to Canyonland National Park. The road to the park was right by our campground. Before we left we made sure we had plenty of water, beef jerky, chapstick and sunscreen. We drove 30 miles to the entrance to the park. Once in the park our first stop was at Shafer Canyon Overlook. A large group of motorcycles had followed us in and were there as well. It was an awesome experience. Part of the overlook was out on a large rock overlooking the canyon I was not going out there it scared me and I stayed back as Jeff went to explore. While Jeff was out on the rock I had a conversation with a lady from the group who had followed us in. They were from Germany and on a tour called American Motorcycle tours. They come over from germany and ride Harley’s on tour. They were doing a tour of the National Parks and Canyons. Next we went to Mesa Arch. We parked and hiked back the trail to see this arch it was a lot easy trail. It was ½ mile one way. Once there the arch is in front of the canyon and probably had a drop off of 2000 feet behind it. People were climbing on top of the Arch to get their pictures taken. Jeff wanted us to go up and get our picture taken. Once I saw it I said no way. You go ahead up and I will take your picture. Even he said it was a bit unnerving but he did it anyway.
Parents were sending their small children up for pictures---I could not look I knew that their parents had no idea how big the drop off was either that or their parents were idiots. After leaving there we drop to the Upheaval Dome. The theory is that this 2 mile section was caused by a meteor thousands of years ago. The hike back to this was a half mile one way as well. After we left the Upheaval Dome we decided to go into the town of Moab and walk around the shops. We walked around town for about and hour then went to the grocery store to get gas and something to make on the grill for dinner. Once back at the campground we uploaded the groceries and put our swimsuits on and jumped in the swimming pool to cool off. It felt good the temperature was a high of 92 degrees and we were ready for some relief. After sitting by the pool for awhile. We went back to our site to make dinner. I am writing my blog entry after we cleaned up the dishes and put things away. We are going to relax at our campsite this evening which is something I think we will both enjoy. We intend to get up to see the sunrise again in the morning before we head to Pleasant Grove, Utah in the morning to see my brother and his family.
Our total miles today just touring around was 144 miles
